298 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



on open water as a fowling-boat than a sailing craft when a 

 large gun is aboard and fixed ready for firing. A trial will 

 prove this to those who doubt. Our foregoing remarks, of 

 course, do not refer to punts or other flat-bottomed craft. 

 Sometimes wildfowl cannot be approached in the best and 

 lowest of punts. At such times wary fowl will not usually 

 permit a straw to float within gunshot of them. At other 

 times ducks and other fowl will permit boats and other such 

 craft to sail or run close past them, and on these occasions they 

 will generally allow anything afloat to approach them, no 

 matter how large — punts can come up as close as, or even 

 closer than, may be desired. It is at such times that 

 the motor launch or any other high-sided craft with a large 

 gun aboard may look for success. Wildfowl are curious birds 

 to understand. The countless hosts of wary widgeon and 

 mallards which have been frequenting a large estuary for 

 weeks without permitting a floatage of drift-ware to come 

 nearer than a quarter of a mile will, for some unknown reason, 

 pack up in companies on the sands and go fast asleep without 

 a single sentinel. The punter should be afloat at these times 

 to compensate himself for days of disappointment. We 

 have known brent geese swim up on a rising tide in flocks 

 ranging from a dozen to many thousands, and permit a punt 

 without cover to come repeatedly within range (the large 

 masses not quite so near), and take toll of their numbers. 

 Three shots resulted in eighty-six brent. It might be added, 

 however, that the duration of hard frost prevailing at the time 

 was thought to be the reason of these brent behaving in what 

 appeared to those personally interested in the matter, an un- 

 suspectingly foolish manner. 



The motor launch here figured is designed specially for the 

 wildfowler. With a draught of nine inches she may be run in 

 very shallow water. The general arrangement is a half-moon 

 tunnel aft, in which rotate a pair of three-bladed propellers 



